Mat Salleh speaking Mandarin rocks it with locals in Kampar

PETALING JAYA – Foreigners vacationing in Malaysia while doing content for their YouTube or TikTok channels is nothing new.

One such traveller, however, turned heads when he visited a Pasar Karat (second-hand market) in Kampar, Perak. Not so much because he was Caucasian, but because he fluently conversed with the senior citizens he encountered in Mandarin.

Maxwell Carver is from New York and, according to his online blog, has been spending the past five years seeing the world.

Carver shared his encounter with Uncle Chen who sells antique rings at the market. Chen appeared to enjoy meeting Carver when he asked the New Yorker to pick a ring.

“Just choose one, I give you free, give you for memory only, I make a friend,” Chen said.

It was apparent that the senior citizens at the market were taken by his warm and polite demeanour, coupled with Carver’s fluency in Mandarin.

In another clip, he impressed another uncle by saying, “Kami cinta Kampar.”

Another uncle could be heard in the background, saying, “Oh you speak Malay? Very nice!”

It was apparent that Carver is a knowledgeable traveller who knows how to carry himself in different parts of the world.

He remarked that this was an incredibly welcoming community based on the small interactions he had with folks around town, which ranged from Yong, who runs a slaughterhouse, and Phoon, who runs a kopitiam.

All these interactions are recorded for posterity in short clips on his TikTok account.

Many applauded him for his content, with one TikTok user noting that Carver rocked it with the locals, to which he responded: “I appreciate it, my man. That’s our goal with this series.” – The Vibes, September 25, 2023